Custom Assault Gun Regulations Essay

Multiple cases of people suffering from the state policy towards gun control are commonly discussed as one of the major social issues in the USA. Consequences of the policy that allows anyone to own a gun have been a debatable issue for a long time in the country. However, recent events demonstrate the necessity of introducing some changes to the gun regulations. Liberal gun laws led to increased criminality rates in the USA that cause a danger to the whole society especially in certain regions. Therefore, I am convinced that the current situation in the USA requires the state to make the gun policy more regulated and strict in order to provide safety to the society.

Moral Arguments

The moral side of the gun regulations should be considered since lives of many people are affected in a negative way by accessibility of guns in the country. There are few main arguments that support the suggestion of imposing stricter laws regarding firearms in the USA.

First of all, the liberal gun control results in an increase of the violent crime in the country. Owning a gun makes it particularly easy and tempting for people to commit a crime and recent events commented in the news demonstrate how people’s right to own a gun harms the society. Statistic shows that the criminality rates have dramatically increased during the last two years. For instance, the total rate of violent crime went up by 17% in 2011 and by 11% for the property crime comparatively to the previous year. The total number of serious and simple assaults rose by 22% in 2011 (Johnson, 2012). Thus, these numbers demonstrate the negative results of applying a liberal gun control laws in the country and support the fact that the laws should be changed since poor criminal situation in the country affects all other spheres of life making people unsure about their safety and future in general.

Secondly, people who own a gun are much more likely to commit suicide than the people who do not. Amongst the representatives of all ages in the USA, the majority of suicides are committed with firearms (Miller et al. 2008). Thus, the fact that owning a gun can increase a risk of people attempting suicide highlights the immorality of letting people keep firearms at home.

The situation has became so unregulated that anyone can buy a gun, explosive, or any firearm online without a need to register or leave their personal information that would make them traceable. I think that it is absolutely unwise and dangerous to ignore the problem. The government should use an example of other countries having a very heavily regulated gun market that allows controlling criminality rates. Meanwhile, the USA has one of the highest rates of violent crimes amongst developed countries due to its gun policy.

Opposing View

The most common opposing view to the issue is connected to people trying to protect themselves by owning a gun. Many people argue that everyone must have a right to assure safety of their families and houses. Undoubtedly, human rights must be assured, although there are some situations when human rights lead to people forgetting about moral issues. The government does not have a moral right to risk the safety of millions of people by not having strict regulations imposed on gun ownership. Moreover, if not many people are allowed to own a gun, the criminality rates would drop. Hence, people would not need to worry so much about protecting themselves with guns.

Another argument against introducing strict regulations into the policy is based on the fact that new laws would not immediately make everyone get rid of the weapons they already have. Moreover, it would induce people to sell and buy guns on the black market. Some opposers claim that regulations are not going to stop weapon trade the same way as banning drugs did not stop them spreading all over the country. This argument sounds convincing and demonstrates the problems that the governments would face when introducing new gun laws. However, I believe that there is a way of introducing new laws so they would work. The gun regulations must be intensified allowing people to have guns only when they are properly registered through thorough medical examinations of people’s mental health and assuring that criminals do not get permission to keep a gun. Additionally, only certain kinds of firearms should be available to private citizens while more dangerous ones must be restricted.

There is not a doubt that the idea of stricter gun regulations might have some drawbacks, although the expected benefit will be greater than the expected harmful effect.

Conclusion

Thus, I believe that stricter gun regulations are necessary for providing decent life and overall prosperity for the population. The moral responsibility of every government is to assure safety and well-being of their citizens which has become quite arguable with the current gun policy in the USA. People want to have firearms at home just because of the unstable criminal situation caused by the availability of guns in the country which is basically a vicious circle. When the gun laws become much stricter, the criminality rates are likely to decrease and people will no longer need to own a gun to protect themselves. Stricter gun regulation will be beneficial for the society and will achieve needed results, although it would take time to change people’s approach to the issue.